OTHERS >Two Turkish weightlifters left out of Games squad

Arat (L) and Baydar (3R) are left out of the Olympic squad after being tested positive for banned substances. Bünyamin Sezer and Nezir Sağır were added to the squad.

Two Turkish weightlifters were left out of the Olympic squad a day before the Games were to be given a formal start with tonight’s ceremony.

The Turkish Weightlifting Federation (THF) chairman confirmed that Fatih Baydar and İbrahim Arat were tested positive for banned substances and left out of the squad.

“We were aware that the two athletes were in suspicious conditions, the international federation contacted us and said that they were positive,” the THF Chairman Hasan Akkuş said. “Their samples were taken on July 7 and results arrived in July 23. As a result, we decided to leave the athletes out of the squad.”

Bünyamin Sezer and Nezir Sağır were added to the Olympic squad to replace the two athletes. Fatih Baydar was a gold medalist in the European Championships earlier this year, while İbrahim Arat won a bronze medal.

Meanwhile, nine track and field athletes, including Turkey’s Meryem Erdoğan, have been handed lengthy bans for doping violations in a crackdown on the use of prohibited substances in the lead up to the London Olympics, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) said.

The athletes were all caught with the aid of the Athlete Biological Passport program.

“Today’s announcements underline the IAAF’s continued and unwavering campaign against doping in athletics,” IAAF President Lamine Diack said in a statement.